Franklin f



(No Model.)

Qxamw.

F; P. KNKOUSE AZINE FIRE ARM.

-"Pa.tented Aug. 11, 1885..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

FRANKLIN F. KNons, or

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE COLTS MAGAZINE Fine-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,330, dated August 11, 1885. Application filed June 15, IBsS. (No'model) T aZZ whom it maytconcern: 1, Be it known that I, FRANKLIN F. KNOUS,

oi Hartford, in the county of Hartford and a full, clear,

State of Connecticut, have invented new Improvenients in Magazine Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection wilh accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

' Figure 1,a sectional side view of so much of the arm as necessary to illustrate the invention; Fig. 2, a detached view of the dog, ham-' mer, trigger, and rear portion of the slide, showing the hammer in the cocked and the dog in the looking position; Fig. 3, a top view of the parts seen in Fig, 1,the'breech' picce removed to show the dog below; Fig. 4,,a modification showing the adaptation of the trigger to operate the dog.

- This invention relates to an improvement in H that class of magazine fire-arms in which the breech-piece1is arranged to move back and forth in .a longitudinaL line in rear of the barrel to open and close the breech, andin'which the breech-piece is so moved by means of a handle arranged forward of the breech-piece withan arm .extendingtherefrom rearward to engage the breech-piece, so that in the rear movement of the handle the breech-piece is thrownto the 'rearto open the breech, and in the forward movement-the breech-piece will bemoved forward to close the breech, with special reference to 'the arm for which Letters Patent of the'United'States No, 285, 020 were granted to W. H. Elliott, September'lS, 1883.

In an arm of the charactermentioned-such as the Elliott arm-when the-,hammer isin its closed'position against the breech-piece, the mainspring of the arm is sufficient, acting through tine hammer,to hold the breech-piece and its connected mechanism in the closed position; but if the hammer be thrown back toward itscocked position, ,then, the powerof the spring being removed from the.breechpiece, a sudden shock from the'reaP-say, as

by dropping the arm upon its butt-will tend to throw,

thefhandlc rearward, and thereby so disengage the breech-locking mechanism that the breech-piece itself may move to the rear, and thereby allow the cartridge in-the chamber of the magazine, as well as that which then rests upon the carrier, to drop from the arm and be lost, thereby putting the arm out of condition for instant use, and requiring two movements forward and back of the breechpiece in order to transfer a new cartridge from the magazineio the barrel ready for iiring.

The object of my' invention is to avoid this accidental displacement of the cartridge; and it consists in a locking-dog,l1ung in the receiver,adapted to engage the operative mechanism of thearm when the breech-piece is in its closed position, combined with a moving part of thelock mechanismmhereby when the hammer'is thrown forward into its firing position thesaid dog will=be disengaged from its locked position, leaving the handle and bree'chpiece free for rear movement, but when the hammer is thrown rearward toward its cocked posi-' tion the dog will be left free to fly into engag ment and hold the breech-piece'in itsclosed In illustratingmyinvention I show only so much of the arm as is necessary for the understanding of the invention.

A represents the bottom portion of the receiyer,'which, extending to the rear, forms the trigger-guard B and the rear tang, G; D, the hammer, ,hung upon a pivot, a, in the usual manner and provided with the mainspring E; F, the trigger, hung upon a pivot, b, in the usual manner .and adapted to engage the respective notches of the hammer; G, the handle, arranged to slide longitudinally on the carrier reafward to open the breech-piece and forward to close it, as in the Elliott arm. From the handle a slide, H, extends rearward through a forward extension, I, from the reand in the forward movement the breech-piece position, and as more fully hereinafter described.

show the'brace and a portion of the breechpiece in the closed position in Fig. 1. When the handle is in its ertrenie forward position, the parts stand as seen in Fig. 1. The barn-'- mer, free, abuts against the rear end of thebreech-piece, as shown.

In rear of the rear end of the slide H is a two-armed lever, d e, hung upouja pivot,-f, forming the locking-dog, the forward arm, d, extending toward the rear end of the slide H and so that its nose stands in line with the said rear end, but below, as seen in Fig. 1, so as not ,to interfere with the rearmovementof the slide. The other arm, e, of the dog extends rearward, andis turned ,up, as at g, forward of the hub of the hammer, and on the hub of the hammer is a cam or hearing surface, 72, which, when the hammer is in its closed position, stands against the turned-up end 6 of the' dog and holds that'end up and be held in that closed condition until the hammer be thrown forward, in which forward movement the cam-surface h will strike the turned-up end e and throw the arm d downward, as seen in Fig. 1, to leave the slide and breech-piece free, and in this closed condition of the hammer and parts the'slide is always free for rear movement. With the hammer in the closed position the movement of the handlerearward to throw the hammer to fullcock'firstcarries the slide H over the nose ofi the dog, 80" that it-will be prevented from rising. The rear movement of the breech-piece impart's'the rear iiiove'ment to the'hammer, as in the Elliott arm, the dog having no efl'ect in such rear movement. The hammer being left at full-cock. and the handle moved forward to close the breech-piece, the dog will be free from the hammer, and so that as the breech-piece reaches its closed position and the handle its extreme forward position, the dog-.will fly up into its locked position, as seen in Fig. 2, and theirs support the parts independent of the hammer. The discharge of the hammer will hisengage the dog and leave the parts free, as

While I- prefer to 'make' the hammer directly the active agent to throw the-nose of the dog from its locked .position, it may be so whenever the hammer is thrown to the rear to either of itsnotches upon the .trigger the dog will be free to engage the slide.

By this construction the engagement and disengagement of the dog is made automatic, and without any care or attention on the part of the person using the arm,'he. being certain that whenever the breech-piece is in its closed position and the hammer turned therefrom, the breech-piece, with all its connecting mechanism, is;locked against possible rear movement. e

The modification which I have suggested to make the operation of the dog by the trigger .will be sufficient to enable those skilled-in the fore described, and so that in either case.

art to which this invention pertains to adapt anyo'f the moving parts or to .so operate the dog.

"I have represented the dog as engaging di- 'rectly with the rear end of theslide; but it will be evident that it. may enga e at any" other point on the slide, or, say, wi 11 the arm which extends down from the locking dog through the slide, as indicated in broken lines,"

points of the lock Fig 2. By the term slide, therefore, I

wish to be understood as embracing such engagement of the dog therewith, directly or indirectly as will hold the slide in the main ner described.

I claim-- 1 In a magazine fire-arm in which the mechanism of the arm is operated by a handle arranged to move longitudinally beneath the barrel thwugh a sll e extending from said handleinto'eonneetion with the'breech mechanism, thecombination therewith of a locking-dog hung in the receiver, ,one arm of which is adapted to engage saidslide when ck mec anism, and a cam on said lock Inchani'sm, substantially-as described, and whereby when the hammer is in its closed position the said dog is thrown out of engagement with the breech mechanism, but is thrown'i'n-to engagement by the rear hammer.

2. In a magazine fire-arm in which the mechanism of the arm is operated by a handle arranged to move longitudinally beneath the barrel, with a slide extending from said before described.

handle-into connection with the breech mech IIC the breechpiece is .in its closed 1position the other arm extending toward the 0 or opening movement of the anism, the combination therewith of the two-' cam will force and hold the said dog from enammed dog (1 e, hung in the receiver in rear of gagement with the said slide, but on the opensaid slide, the one of said arn1s,d, adapted to 'ing movement of the hammer the said cam engage the said slide when the breech-piece will release the said dog to permit it to en- 5 isin its closed position, the other arm extendgage said slide, substantially as specified. ing 'rearward, the hammer constructed with it T T v T cam, ,li adapted to operate upon said rear KLI'L LL arm of the dog substantial] y as described, \Vitnesses: and" whereby when the breech-piece is closed E. F. BODWELL, (O and the hammer in its closed position the said O.' J. EHBETS. 

